WASHINGTON — For many high-school seniors, the massive storm that struck the East Coast
yesterday not only raised the possibility of days without transportation, classes or electricity,
but also threatened to wreak havoc with their college applications.

The reason for students’ fears: Thursday marks a key annual deadline for many colleges to accept
early applications. Authorities in northeastern and Middle Atlantic states expect millions of
people to be without power this week in the wake of superstorm Sandy, making it extremely difficult
for some students to meet the Nov. 1 target without the use of computers or Internet access.

As a result, several colleges announced yesterday that they would push back their deadlines.

The University of Virginia said it would accept applications for early-action admissions through
11:59 p.m. Sunday. Early action is a program that allows students to secure an early-admission
offer without being required to make a decision until later in the school year. Last year, about
11,700 applicants sought early action at Virginia. Of those, about 3,200 were admitted and about
1,500 enrolled, said Greg W. Roberts, dean of admission. Those students made up about two-fifths of
the entering class.

With Sandy wreaking havoc on the Eastern Seaboard, Roberts said the school wanted to give
families more time “if in fact this is going to be as devastating to some areas as some people
think.”

At the University of Maryland, which gives priority to students who submit by Nov. 1, officials
announced that the deadline would be extended but did not say how much.

“We will, of course, work with prospective students and our school-counselor colleagues to be as
flexible as possible in helping them to complete the admission process,” Barbara Gill, Maryland’s
assistant vice president for undergraduate admissions and enrollment planning, said in an
e-mail.

Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore extended its deadline for early-decision applications,
which had been Thursday. Early decision, unlike nonbinding early-action programs, requires students
to enroll if admitted. Johns Hopkins has not set a new deadline but will as soon as officials
assess the storm’s impact.

“Students have a lot of anxiety about applications,” said David Phillips, vice provost for
admissions and financial aid at Johns Hopkins. “The more you give them an extended deadline, the
more they may pore over an application, and edit it and re-edit. We don’t want students agonizing
too much about it. We want to close the loop.”

At Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va., which also has an early-decision program,
officials said they would be flexible. “We’re asking them to get us their materials as soon as
possible and to do their best to submit what they can before any possible power-related
interruptions to Internet service,” said Jonathan Webster, associate dean of admission at
Washington and Lee.

Similar deadline extensions were expected at many other schools.

College admission counselors said Nov. 1 is perennially one of the biggest days on the
application calendar. The days leading up to it are some of the most stressful.

“I always encourage kids to work ahead of time,” said Bruce Vinik, an education consultant in
Montgomery County, Md. “You never know if something’s going to come up at the end that somehow
throws a wrench into the process. This is a great example of why kids need to work ahead.”

Nina Marks, another Montgomery-based education consultant, said the storm could
disproportionately affect applicants who have modest means. Those who are rushing to complete their
applications, she said, often have fewer resources at home. For that reason, she said, it is
crucial to extend the application deadline for students who may be affected by Sandy.